Meet Our Workshop Instructors - ACE 3
Andrew Woodhouse
Andrew Woodhouse was born in Birmingham, England. As a teenager Andrew moved to Ontario along with his parents and later graduated from Communication and Design & Fine Art at OCAD in Toronto, then began his professional career as an illustrator. His clients included: McDonalds, Hallmark, Polo Ralph Lauren, Government of Canada, Woolworths, ABC Network as well as many book and magazine publishers worldwide. Andrew quickly got bored with two dimensions and transitioned to 3D CG animation in the mid 1990's, and has never looked back.
Acting as mainly an art director, but also on occasion as modelor, surfacer, matte painter, lighter, compositor and layout artist, various projects include "Monster House", Disney's "The Wild", Elton John's "Gnomeo and Juliet", "9" "Spiderman III" "Next Gen" and "Ugly Dolls". Getting bored again, Andrew recently moved into directing. Thirty six episodes of the pre-school series "Pretzel and the Puppies" for Apple TV + Premium were completed recently, about a family of cute Dachshunds based loosely on the books by Margaret Rey, and following the pre-school learning curriculum of problem solving and positive portrayals in media. An added challenge was remotely dealing with all aspects of the production pipeline and people due to the pandemic. Andrew is no longer bored.
Anne-Marie Perrotta
Anne-Marie Perrotta is a Montreal-based screenwriter, executive story editor, and creator who has had over 700 scripts produced for television. An amazing feat despite the fact her dogs ask to be let out every five minutes to bark at real and imaginary squirrels.
Series like Arthur, Ranger Rob, Max & Ruby, Toon Marty and Clifford the Big Red Dog. Anne-Marie was also an Executive Story Editor and writer on 51 episodes of the live-action series Big Top Academy (Discovery Kids Latin America/TVO/Cirque du Soleil Images/Hulu).And that despite her birds squawking their heads off to be fed. In addition to her zoo-keeping duties, Anne-Marie has developed many animation and live-action series for producers and broadcasters around the world. She is the Quebec Councillor for the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) as well as a founding member of Femmes Animées Montréal(FAM!). In 2013, Anne-Marie won the WGC’s highest honour, the Writers Block Award, for service to Canadian screenwriters .If you don’t hear from her, please send help–the animals may have taken over.
Ari Wise
Ari Wise is the owner and director of Core Music Agency, Canada’s largest talent agency focusing on film, television and games composers. Before establishing his agency, Ari Wise was himself an award-winning film composer, with over 200 features, TV Movies, live and animated episodes of television, documentaries and short films to his credit. Some highlights include: "The Conclave" starring Brian Blessed and James Faulkner, "Police Academy, the Series" and "School of Life", starring Ryan Reynolds.
A graduate of the University of British Columbia's Music Composition program, and a graduate of USC's world famous, "Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television" Advanced Studies Program, Ari has spent the last 14 years representing a stellar and exclusive roster of talented and successful screen composers. To date, he and his fellow Core agents have negotiated more than 900 composer agreements. His passion for the art and business of music in film has brought him to lead and participate in film festival industry forums and discussion panels all over Canada. As well, he has been interviewed for, and been the subject of featured articles in some of the industry's leading publications. Ari currently serves on the board of directors for the Vancouver Post Alliance.
Barbara Dawson
Barbara Dawson is an “Industry Veteran” with almost 30 years of experience in CG and 2D Animation Televisions and Film projects. Barbara has worked as a Producer and Artist Manager and has her own business (CG Scout Inc) which provides Recruiting, and Production Consulting. Throughout her career she has worked with Mainframe, Atomic Cartoons, Wildbrain, Digital Domain, Pixar Canada and ILM. She spent many years teaching interview skills and demo reel creation and VFS, Think Thank and Lost Boys Learning and has given seminars at NYU and Le Goblens. Her career has taken her from Vancouver to San Francisco and back again, and she is now semi-retired in Penticton BC
Cinzia Angelini
Cinzia Angelini, director and creator of animated films, has worked for major international studio sin the animation industry for more than twenty-five years. While she started out as both a 2D and 3D animator, she later became a story artist for Warner Brothers, Sony Imageworks, Duncan Studio, Disney Animation Studios, Dreamworks and Illumination Entertainment. Her body of work includes Balto, Prince of Egypt, The Road to Eldorado, Spirit, Spider-man 2,Bolt, The Minions Movie, Despicable Me 3, The Grinch and Abominable.
Cinzia is currently directing HITPIG, an Aniventure upcoming animated feature produced at Cinesite Studios.Cinzia has also written and directed “Mila,” a CG short film about a little girl, whose life takes an unexpected turn in WWII.Her idea of bridging cultural diversity through the magic of animation, led to an invitation to speak at TEDx Trento, and at TEDx Vail-Colorado.Cinzia moved to Los Angeles in 1997, where she currently lives with her family.
Colleen Holub
As a kid, I’d entertain myself for hours with paper and pencils, drawing, dreaming up characters and making up stories within the drawings. One summer day, by chance I saw an ad for artists and landed a job as an Opaquer on the feature film The Nutcracker Prince. Working in an animation studio was and still remains a fun and inspiring place to be. I was hooked! As soon as possible, I registered for an animation program with a college in Ontario. I wanted to learn how to animate. With a lot of elbow grease I succeeded in turning my love of drawing and storytelling into a career in animation. From my first job as a Cel Painter on a 2D traditionally animated feature to current work as Series Director of a 3D CGI animated series, I’ve had the great fortune to work on wonderful projects with talented fun-loving people, creating entertaining and educational programing for Netflix, Mattel, Dreamworks Animation TV, PBS Kids, Klasky Csupo, Nickelodeon, Walt Disney TV and more.
In 2011 I was nominated for a Daytime Entertainment Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing In An Animated Program for my work on Martha Speaks. In 2015 How It Happened In Hotterly Hollow, a children’s book in which I designed the illustrations won the Silver Metal Wishing Shelf Award for best illustration of preschool picture books. In 2001 What About Mimi? a tv series that I developed and directed won the Pulcinella Award for Best Animated Series for Children. And in 2001 I was nominated for a Leo Award for Best Direction in An Animated Series on What About Mimi?.
Jan Miller
Jan Miller is an international consultant and trainer specializing in film and television co-production and co-venturing. She also continues to present one of the world’s top Content Development & Pitching Workshops. She has offered her workshops and programming in close to 20 countries around the world and across Canada.
A talent that makes things happen, Jan was one of the driving forces behind setting up Canada’s first film school, the National Screen Institute (NSI). She also co designed and presented the Strategic Partners International Co-production Market, Trans Atlantic Partners (TAP), and was lead on the design and delivery of CMPA’s international Coproduction Accelerator Program. She established the Women in Film and Television-Atlantic Chapter and its annual Women Making Waves conference.. She also co-designed and presented several iterations of Women in View’s Five in Focus training opportunities, primarily for underrepresented communities, including one specifically for female animators, as well as the 2021 iteration, Five in Focus Indigenous. Jan has recently designed programs or developed training components focusing on content for the BSO, the Lunenburg DocFest Diversity programs, WIFT-T and the NSI. Jan presently serves on the Women in View Board Executive , the WIFT Canada Coalition, completed a term on the AFC Board and serves on the CSARN Board.
Jan Stebbins
Jan is an animation producer with over 17 years of experience in development and production. In addition to servicing a roster of clients through her consulting business, she works with emerging talent to develop and pitch new animated series .
Previously she was the Executive Producer of Hornet Films, an award winning development and production company located in New York. She oversaw all development and production of original animated content for film, television, and web. Prior to running the original content division, she was Executive Producer for parent company, Hornet, which produces award winning commercial projects. Prior to Exec Producing, Jan was a producer for Hornet and worked on a variety of animated and mixed media productions.
Before joining Hornet, Jan managed the production of preschool animated television series at Chorion. She began her career in the creative development department of Sesame Workshop working in part on the redevelopment of The Electric Company. Jan received her undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from Fordham University. Credits include Sherwood, Olivia, The Mr. Men Show ,and The Octonauts.
Jan is a current member of the undergraduate faculty at The School of Visual Arts in New York City where she teaches a class entitled “Developing the Animated Series”.
Joe Giampapa
With 30 years of experience in the animation industry, Joe Giampapa is currently the Studio Head of Story at House of Cool Inc. in Toronto, Canada.He has worked as a Story Artist on projects such as The Book of Life, Ferdinand, Angry Birds1 & 2, The Peanuts Movie, Next Gen, Rumble, and most recently as Head of Story on Paw Patrol the Movie. Before becoming a Story Artist, Joe started his journey as a paper flipping, classical animator working in Television, Commercials and on 2D Features. A lot of trees were sacrificed while Joe worked on films such as Beauty and the Beast 2, Once Upon a Christmas, Peter Pan 2, Osmosis Jones,The Three Kings, Eight Crazy Nights,and many more.
But that's not all folks! Scattered throughout his career, Joe has also done voice work, written for television, worked on character concept designs for Television and Features, and worked in Story Development. Joe's secret to a long and happy career is "if it feels like work, you're doing it wrong", but also "don't stick your finger in a live electrical outlet". Either way, with those life mottos, you will be around for a long time.
Karen Lloyd
Growing up in Montreal, Karen showed a talent for drawing cartoons and animals at a very young age. She later enrolled in the Illustration & Design program at Dawson College and started her 10 year career as a graphic designer. In 1996 she made a big change to pursue her life-long adoration of animation by attending Vancouver Film School in their Classical Animation program. While also having a love of acting and comedy, Karen soon discovered she had a 'knack' for storyboarding. Out of school, she starting working as a storyboard artist and stayed on that path for 16 years working on various animated TV shows and direct to DVD projects. In 2013 she got her first directing opportunity at Rainmaker Entertainment (Mainframe Studios) with 'Barbie and the Secret Door' followed by 'Barbie in Rock N Royals'. She kept directing on other long and short form projects at Kickstart Entertainment such as 'Ghost Patrol', an 'Enchantimals' special and series for Mattel and a number of 'Hatchimals' series for Spin Master.
She then returned to Mainframe Studios at the end of 2019 to be series director on 'Team Zenko Go' in collaboration with Dreamworks Animation and Netflix. After also being a storyboard instructor at Vancouver Film School for many years, Karen continues to have a love for teaching and mentoring others in the craft of visual storytelling.
Katherine Sandford
Katherine’s work for children includes hundreds of hours of stories that have been broadcast around the world on PBS, Nickelodeon, Netflix, Sprout, Disney Jr., BBC, ITV, CBC, TVO, Treehouse, ABC (Australia) TVNZ (New Zealand) and many others. Katherine has been nominated for multiple Writers Guild awards and worked on some of the most recognized shows in children’s television including Molly of Denali, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That, Corn and Peg, Little Charmers, Ranger Rob Max and Ruby, Franklin, Franny’s Feet, Justin Time and many, many others.
As Producer she worked on the multi-award-winning The Adventures of Napkin Man and The Moblees, both for CBC and was Executive Story Editor on the PBS preschool science show Elinor Wonders Why which was nominated for two Emmys in2021.In 2022 Katherine was thrilled to work as Consulting Producer/Executive Story Editor on the adorable new CBC show Mittens and Pants, as well as working as the Head Writer on a new yet-be-announced series of shorts that will be a part of Season 54 of SESAME STREET!
Kulbinder Saran Caldwell
REALLIFE is the first boutique literary agency and production company with a South Asian female-Kulbinder Saran Caldwell-as Founder/CEO representing diverse, neuro-diverse and LGBTQIA+ writers. REALLIFE incorporates adversity mandate within its core product offering. The company's vision is to have more BIPOC representation in the film/television industry and put the spotlight on diverse storytellers. Our premise is to provide a nurturing environment in which its writers can create high quality, award-winning content.
Along with being principal agent, Kulbinder also acts as a career manager, supporting writers to develop their projects by connecting them with various mentors, story editors and by organizing script table reads to strengthen content and provide the extra support many of these new and emerging writers need. The agency has been built and sustained through the dedication and tenacity of the founder.
Lori Massini
Lori Massini is Senior Vice President of Legal and Business Affairs at Thunderbird Entertainment. Lori was formerly Vice President of Legal and Business Affairs at Bron Studios, and prior to joining Thunderbird acted as production counsel for more than a decade, assisting numerous Canadian and American producers and studios with their legal and business affairs needs. Lori has extensive experience negotiating contracts for actors, directors, producers and crew, managing employment and labour issues, advising on corporate legal matters and overseeing complex financing arrangements. She is active in the arts, and is an accomplished dancer and musician.
Maisha Moore
Maisha Moore is an Annie Award nominated Art Director and Production Designer from Vancouver Canada. Maisha has been in the animation industry for the last 13 years, working on globally recognized media such as The Addams Family, Barbie and Young Love.
Maisha the Art Director of the inaugural Five in Focus program, now the ACE Career Accelerator.
Marie McCann
Marie McCann is the senior director of children's content for CBC Kids. McCann oversees development, production, acquisition and in-house production of award-winning content.As Canada's national public broadcaster, CBC is committed to excellence and innovation in children's and youth media and to reaching audiences across multiple platforms.
Nadine Westerbarkey
Nadine has been working in the Animation industry for over 25 years, with vast experience in film and television working with well-respected studios such as Walt Disney, Dreamworks, Universal, DHX, Bardel and Atomic Cartoons where she currently holds the responsibility of Studio Creative Director. In her current role Nadine oversees all productions and is very involved in setting up all upcoming shows, supporting the creative teams during development and production.
In 2021 Nadine was awarded the YWCA Women of Distinction award for her work in the animation community with the focus on authentic storytelling, diversity and inclusion. Through WIA and Atomic Nadine dedicates a lot of volunteer and mentorship work towards support for artists to enter into the industry and growth towards creative leadership roles.
Patricia Atchison
Following an Annie Award Nomination for Best Production Design for MGM’s animated feature film “The Addams Family” and wrapping production design for the sequel, “The Addams Family 2”,Patriciais currently helping develop new shows for Cinestite and Netflix. Her skills and knowledge come from the 20+ years of experience starting as a graduate from Capilano University with fundamentals in 2D animation. Patricia’s career has ranged from supervising layout and posing on popular 2D shows like “Arthur” and “Caillou”, to storyboarding for hit series like “Pound Puppies” and “Thomas and Friends”, and art direction and production design for the Netflix and Mattel properties “Spy Kids” and “Barbie”, thus garnering her as a well-respected artist in the Vancouver animation community.
Trish Klein
Trish Klein’s nearly 20 years of music industry experience includes music management, music supervision, music production, audio engineering, event production and music marketing. She began her professional career as multi-instrumentalist / recording artist with the Canadian folk band The Be Good Tanyas, a project she co-founded in 1999. Her writing and production credits span 18 years and 10 international releases and her musical work has been included in various film productions including 'Breaking Bad', 'The L Word', 'Weeds' and the title song for 20th Century Fox feature film 'Because of Winn-Dixie'. In 2014 she launched her own company Hidden City a music supervision and music management company. Trish is excited to bring her unique experience, skills and energy to her work at Core Music Agency.
Vanessa Jacobsen
Vanessa Jacobsen, a Montreal native happily ensconced in the Vancouver scene, founded and owned It's All Fun & Games toy store on Commercial Drive for 17 years before moving on to work in the CG Industry starting with a position with the Vanguard/Starz production of Space Chimps. Vanessa worked for Vancouver Film School where she built strong partnerships in the entertainment arts industry to enhance the student experience and to support graduates transitioning into their careers. As the Head of Department, her connections are far reaching, and Vanessa has been instrumental in successfully guiding and supporting hundreds upon hundreds of students through the program and into successful artists out in industry. Currently at Bardel Entertainment, Vanessa-in her role in Resource Management, oversees all artist movements across current and future shows. As well, continues to grow the artist management department to better serve artists within the studio. Vanessa also leads in house workshops on a variety of topics including stress management and soft skill improvements. Vanessa has been on a variety of panels at SIGGRAPH, SPARK festivals, Vancouver ACMSIGGRAPH chapter events, and Career Fairs. As a past Board member of WIA Vancouver Education Outreach Track Chair and a current member of the Visual Effects Society, Vanessa continues to strive for diversity and inclusion within our industry for all current and future CG artists.